Var. b, sericeus. Kirk, Students' Fl. 9.—Achenes clothed with silky hairs.
Var. c, dentatus, Kirk, l.c. 9.—Leaves broadly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, coarsely toothed or dentate, clothed on both surfaces wiDh strigose ferruginous pubescence, sometimes almost shaggy.
North Island: Tararua Mountains, Buchanan! South Island: Wairau Gorge and Tarndale, Sinclair, T. F. C.; Spenser Mountains, Kaikoura Mountains, Kirk! Marlborough, Monro; Clarence Valley, T. F. C.; Mount Torlesse and Upper Waimakariri, Kirk! Cockayne! Var. b: Kaikoura Mountains, Kirk! Var. c. Not uncommon in mountain districts in Marlborough and Canterbury, from the Clarence River southwards. 1500–4500 ft. December–January.
A very variable plant, united with R. pinguis by Hooker, but differing from that species in the petals being always much longer than the sepals, in the scape being usually branched and not thickened upwards, and in the longer styles to the achenes. The var. dentatus has a very different appearance to the typical form, and but for the occurrence of numerous intermediates might have been treated as a distinct species.
6. R. pinguis, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 2, t. 1.—Short, stout, usually rather fleshy, 2–10 in. high, sparingly pilose or almost glabrous. Rootstock stout, with numerous fleshy rootlets. Leaves all radical, on long stout petioles with stout sheathing bases; blade 1–3 in. diam., reniform, deeply crenate-lobed. Scape as long or longer than the leaves, stout, thickened upwards, naked or with 1–2 bracts above the middle, 1-flowered. Flower 1 in. diam., yellow. Sepals 5–6, oblong. Petals 5–8, obovate or linear-oblong, hardly as long as the sepals, with 1–3 glandular pits towards the base. Receptacle broadly oblong. Achenes very numerous, small, glabrous; style short, straight, with 3 narrow wings at the base.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 10. R. pinguis, var. b, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 5.
Auckland and Campbell Islands: Not uncommon, ascending to nearly 2000 ft., Hooker, Filhol! Kirk!
Sir J. D. Hooker distinguishes two varieties in the Flora Antarctica, one (var. pilosus) being much more hairy than the type, with linear petals always furnished with 3 glandular pits; the other (var. rhombifolius) smaller, with the leaves rhomboid-cuneate and 3–5-fid.
7. R. nivicola, Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 571, 572.—Erect, usually rather slender, paniculately branched above, 2–3 ft. high, more or less covered with long soft white spreading hairs or nearly glabrous. Rootstock short, stout. Radical leaves on long petioles 4–12 in. long with broad sheathing bases; blade 3–6 in. diam. or even more, cordate-reniform, more or less deeply 3–7-lobed, lobes broadly cuneate, inciso-crenate. Cauline leaves deeply cut and lobed, upper laciniate. Flowers many, large, golden-yellow, 1–1½ in. diam. Sepals 5, linear-oblong, pilose. Petals usually numerous, 8–15, narrow cuneate-obovate, emarginate, each with a single glandular pit near the base. Achenes forming a small rounded head, glabrous, turgid; style straight, hooked at the tip.—
